The Democrats' gamble: Something is better than nothing

“The bill right now is unpopular,” says political scientist William Galston of the Brookings Institution, who worked in the Clinton White House. “There’s no question about that, and you might reason therefore that the political fruits of passing an unpopular bill will be increased unpopularity.”

But, Mr. Galston says, the fear of unpopularity is trumped by another concern: “The crisis of confidence the American people are now experiencing is in part a crisis of competence. They’re losing confidence government can do much of anything. For better or worse, the Democratic party has wagered its competence on a single number on the roulette wheel: health-care reform.”